Ichigo and Friend
by ArcticDLance
Summary: Ichigo died with his Mother, and was about to get eaten himself until his Zanpakuto stepped in and saved him. Ever since then he has been trained by his inner hollow and his Zanpakuto spirit, Zangetsu. AU
1. Humble Beginnings, not so Humble Result

**A/N Hey I'm Daniel! I wanted to write a fanfic about Ichigo so here we go ok? The pairing will be a secret for now but I won't change it and they won't meet until later. No hurtful comments plz, I get my feelings hurt and I don't like to be sad! Anyway Rated M for now just in case and btw sorry if the story is OOC since I want to keep all characters roughly close to their personalities. Okay let's get it. Oh one more thing! Spoilers! Even if you have finished the current anime, unless you read the manga then there will be major spoilers! In my story, Zangetsu tells Ichigo everything so unless you know exactly what's going on, there will be major spoilers.**

 _Italicized= People's thoughts._

 **Prologue:**

Young Ichigo looked up in complete shock and horror at the site of his Mother being attacked and eaten by a monster straight out of a children's story. All he could do was stand with his mouth gaped open. No thoughts ran through his head. No muscle in his body was working. He didn't know what he wanted to do. All he could do was surrender to the feeling of complete emptiness he was feeling. Live? Die? Run? Fight? These were not things running through his blank mind. Only until the monster ran a claw through his heart did he snap out of it. He looked around and had figured that he could be dead, seeing as though he could clearly see dead spirits so there had to be an afterlife. His theory was confirmed when he looked down and saw a broken chain dangling from his chest. Before he had the chance to think another thought, the monster had opened its mouth and began to close in on him. He instinctively put his hands above his head, though it was completely futile, but just before the monster could devour him, a dark beam of spiritual energy, seemingly coming from the ground, enveloped Ichigo. Since the monster was so close, the massive tower of black and red-trimmed energy hit the monster head-on, wounding it by nearly severing an arm.

"Damn Boy, I'll kill you still, you and your mother." The monster shouted. Then Ichigo's spiritual pressure hit the monster like a piano fell on him. Unbeknownst to Ichigo, the monster fled the scene, no longer wanting the kill. Under normal circumstances, Ichigo would frantically apologize for hurting the creature, but there was no need. He looked around him and immediately began cowering in fear of the site around him. " _What is this? Why is this happening to me? Make it stop!"_ He was beginning to panic until a shrill and almost echoing voice spoke softly to him.

"Ichigo." Ichigo's eyes widened and he thought for sure he had reached his limit of insanity and become insane from the trauma of the day.

"Who are you? And what do you want?" Ichigo asked frantically.

"My name is Zangetsu," As he said this, a white cloth very thin started to circle around Ichigo. "Nice to meet you." The voice continued. He was expecting a response but when he didn't get one, he decided to try and calm the boy down further.

"Hey Ichigo, don't worry I'm your friend." Ichigo was skeptical after the day that he had. Zangetsu wasn't about to give up though. The tower of darkness surrounding Ichigo had subsided after a couple seconds. It was now completely gone, exposing the lake, bridge, and grass around him. Ichigo felt a hand lightly tap his shoulder from behind, but that was enough to make the young boy, with tears steadily leaking from his eyes, to jump and turn as quick as he could to catch a glimpse of his new attacker. When he did turn around he saw a boy that looked alot like himself, only a paled anti-Ichigo looking being. Ichigo became frightened again and it seemed like Zangetsu noticed this.

"Easy there, I'm not your enemy, I saved you from that hollow, didn't I?" Zangetsu claimed with a smile that could be the devils. Ichigo's eyes widened a bit at this. " _Could it be true? Why would someone so sinister looking help me?"_

"I'll tell you everything about everything, I'll teach you how to wield me like a pro, and we'll be unstoppable together" He said with a dangerous smile, the same smile that hadn't left his face the entire conversation. He held his hand out to help Ichigo to his feet. Suddenly, Zangetsu summoned a cleaver like sword, much bigger than the two of them. For some reason, Zangetsu didn't have any trouble carrying it, despite the size difference. After all, he looks just like a kid.

"Here take this!" He said as he tossed it Ichigo's way.

"Wait, what is this?" Ichigo asked as he caught it. It was surprisingly light.

"What do you mean, Ichigo? It's me! Zangetsu!" Ichigo however refused to take any more of the kids antics and turned around in a 'humph.' Zangetsu just rolled his eyes at this.

"Hey, any minute now there's going to be trouble coming this direction. Maybe more hollow, like the one you saw, maybe something worse." Zangetsu said almost excitedly. Ichigo started to panic, but Zangetsu would have none of that. "Don't worry, we'll make our escape," he said as he walked over to Ichigo's right side. He grabbed an area on the swords cloth that Ichigo's tiny hands weren't occupying. Zangetsu then raised the massive cleaver to point in the direction of the bridge.

"Try to focus your spirit energy into the sword and I'll do the rest" he exclaimed. Ichigo tried to concentrate and put as much of himself toward the sword's tip as his little body would allow him. Zangetsu for his part was focusing on opening a Garganta. After a minute or two, the pair created enough energy to open the portal.

"Well after you." The signature grin of Zangetsu plastered all over his face. Ichigo gulped. He had JUST lost his mother. What about his family? What would they feel? He had to tell them that he died right? Zangetsu was getting impatient and decided to speak up, "You won't be able to communicate with humans since they won't be able to see you. I'm sorry for this happening to you out of the blue, but we have to get to training you. You can visit this town and watch over your family as much as you want but they couldn't ever interact with you." Ichigo had expected this, after all, he was one of the only people he knew of that could see ghosts, but what if Karin and Yuzu were like him? What if they could see him? His thoughts were interrupted when suddenly Zangetsu disappeared into the sword Ichigo was carrying. Just then, as if the sword had a will of its own, it wrapped the cloth securely around the tiny hands of Ichigo, and propelled itself into the portal. This marked the start of Ichigo's new life with his trusty Zanpakuto, Zangetsu.

 **Present Day:**

Ichigo stared out at the soccer field that his sister Karin was playing at with wonder. " _She sure is strong, and coordinated too, easily the best one practicing."_ Ichigo couldn't help but feel pride. He was just as proud of Yuzu, as well. It takes a lot of responsibility, and patience, to nurse people with as much care as she demonstrates on a daily bases. His two little twin sisters were growing up to be women very fast. He spent most of his free time stalking the two of them. Sometimes, he'd even watch them sleep, which Zangetsu mocks him for, but then again, he mocks him about everything. The past six years for Ichigo has been spent by either arguing about ethics with Zangetsu, watching his sister's grow, fleeing from Soul Reapers who mistake him for a hollow, and killing hollow's himself. During the first couple of months with Zangetsu in Hueco Mondo, Zangetsu taught him everything he needed to know about the worlds. He learned of Hollows, and the Soul Reapers that hunt them. Zangetsu also told him that all Soul Reapers have a Zanpakuto, and their relationship with their weapon dictates how strong the user is. Zangetsu has been training Ichigo ever since his Mom died. He mastered Shikai, Bankai, and the crude fighting style of Zangetsu. One day Ichigo asked him why he decided to help, and Zangetsu said that he would always be there for him, whether to be a friend, mentor, or enemy. Zangetsu has become Ichigo's best, and only friend, though they do nothing but argue about what's right, and the importance of it.

"Haven't you stalked them enough?" The spirit said in his usual condescending tone.

"No, and be quiet, I'm watching." Just then, Ichigo felt a hollow presence. He didn't want to leave his sister, but he couldn't allow a hollow to run rampant. He moved to the site of where the spiritual pressure was, and immediately caught site of the hollow. It was terrorizing a little dead spirit boy.

"Hey kid! Get away from there!" He shouted. The boy was already running towards him, but Ichigo wanted to encourage him anyway. When the Hollow looked at Ichigo, he became confused. He looked exactly like a Soul Reaper, only Soul Reapers wear black. This boy was wearing all white.

"Hey Hollow, it's not polite to stare." Ichigo mocked. The creature growled in response. Ichigo grabbed Zangetsu from his back and began walking toward it. The Hollow launched itself at Ichigo, who in response threw Zangetsu by the cloth at the Hollow. The Hollow jumped in the air at Ichigo, successful in dodging the attack. The Hollow was certain he won, but Ichigo yanked the cloth back and Zangetsu followed its master, slicing the Hollow in half right before it got to Ichigo. " _One more down."_ Ichigo was mentally applauding himself, when Zangetsu decided to tease him again.

"When are you gonna drop this hero stuff, Ichigo?"

"Why would I ever have to?" Ichigo replied, only slightly irritated.

"Because that attitude is gonna get us killed! What if that Hollow had been a Vasto Lorde? Huh? Your stupid heroic act would have been the end of you, and me."

"Hey! Just stop teasing me would you! I get it!" Ichigo shouted.

"I'm not teasing this time, I'm trying to protect you."

"Don't give me that crap! You love fighting!"

"I love fighting when death is a 50/50 shot! Sooner or later you're gonna get us killed!" Ichigo could never be sure if he was just giving him shit for the hell of it, or if he really was looking out for him. Ichigo, however, was too caught up in his argument with Zangetsu to notice the Spiritual Presence of a Soul Reaper closing in.

"Am I interrupting something?"

Ichigo turned around to see a tiny Soul Reaper with short black hair. " _Unreal, I have to deal with this now."_

"Don't have anything to say? Fine, let me start off; who are you? What are you? And why are you here?" The Soul Reaper asked the flurry of questions.

"Ugh, enough with your questions! I already have a headache!" Ichigo comically, though angrily, replied. The Soul Reaper was just as serious though.

"Are you a hollow?" She asked while drawing her sword.

"Maybe, so what if I am? I saved that kid didn't I? And it wouldn't be the first time." The Soul Reaper paused at this.

" _A hollow that looks like a human, can talk, and doesn't have any visible signs of hunger."_ The Soul Reaper's eyes widened and she momentarily lost grip of her sword, only to regain her composure immediately and tighten her grip like she never had before _._

"Are you a Vasto Lorde?"

"If I told you I was, would you leave me alone?" Ichigo didn't want to lie but he was sure she had never heard of something like him before, and explaining to her exactly what he was, would just be a pain. "What's your name anyway?" Ichigo asked. He viewed the Soul Reapers, (even though they always fought him when they saw him,) as the good guys. After all, they killed Hollows and protected people. So he made it a point to ask some of them their names. Very rarely did he get an answer though.

"My name is Rukia Kuchiki." Rukia said hesitantly. Ichigo recognized the last name. He didn't know all the captains by name, but he knew a lot about the 13 Court Guard Squads.

"Are you related to Captain Kuchiki?" Ichigo asked with interest. Rukia however tightened the grip on her sword even more.

"Who, and what are you?" She asked with as much conviction as she could. She did really want her question answered. Ichigo rolled his eyes and mentally prepared himself. After 6 years of having to explain the same thing over and over again, he eventually just got sick of trying, but he'd try again.

"My name is Ichigo Kurosaki. I was born a Quincy/Soul Reaper/Hollow combination. I was killed when I was 9, my mother got killed right in front of me. The trauma of seeing that and being killed turned me into a hollow. Being turned into a hollow awakened my Soul Reaper/Hollow powers and my Zanpakuto came and saved me. I've been living in Hueco Mundo ever since." Rukia stared at Ichigo for a while, her expression impassive.

"Do I look like an idiot to you?" She scolded. Ichigo didn't know how to respond to that. This was a first. Usually they either ran away, started attacking, didn't let him finish, or something else action-oriented. However she seemed like she was willing to talk. Ichigo wouldn't admit it, but he got a bit excited.

"That's the truth, ok? Believe me or not."

"I know for a fact that what you are saying is impossible."

"Oh yeah? And how's that?"

"First of all, Hollows don't fraternize with humans, or each other for that matter. So you can't be a Soul Reaper/Hollow-Hybrid." Ichigo's headache got a little worse, but this was better than having to fight, he told himself that at least.

"When my mom was younger, she got infected by a Hollow and was about to turn into one, then my Dad saved her by giving up his Soul Reaper powers." Rukia hadn't thought of that possibility. Though it still didn't make sense. Just then, they both felt a strong spiritual presence of a Hollow. Ichigo thought it would be better to sit this one out. After all, she was the Soul Reaper of this town. She looked over to where the presence was and then back to Ichigo but he was gone.

 **A/N End of Chp.1! Future chapters will be longer but I just decided that since this was a pilot, I shouldn't make it that long. Anywho I'll update later, don't exactly know when. And btw the whole 'my moms a quincy/hollow' thing, is real. That's why I said spoilers. Oh and 'old man Zangetsu' isnt really Zangetsu… He lied. Lol the real Zangetsu is the inner hollow. Sorry if I spoiled everything. But bye bye! XD**


	2. Spotted

**A/N I don't own Bleach or it's Character's… Why the fuck do people say this at the beginning of their fanfics? Like seriously… Why?**

 **Chapter 2:**

 **Middle of May: World of the Living**

Rukia was now running to the spot where she sensed the Hollow's presence. She made her way out of the park and began jumping from building to building to get there faster. She dropped down on an uncrowded street corner, where she saw a girl slowly rise. " _She might have been attacked by the Hollow I sensed, but if that's true, where is it? And why is this girl still alive?"_ She was stumped. Something else was strange, Rukia could have sworn that the girl was looking straight at her.

"Hello." The girl said with a smile. "My name is Orihime Inoue." She said pleasantly. Rukia however refused to believe that she could see her and she started walking to move past her.

"Where are you going?" Orihime asked. Rukia turned around and looked at the girl. Orihime was staring right at her. Looking into her eyes expectantly.

"Are you talking… to me?" Rukia asked. Orihime blinked several times in confusion.

"Well of course I am, you're the only one around." Rukia almost passed out right then. It wasn't unheard of; a human being able to see a Soul Reaper is definitely rare, but not unheard of. However with the day that Rukia was having, the prospect was certainly dream-like. She pondered ignoring her and going about looking for the Hollow, but then she noticed a red slash mark across the side of her leg. Her interest was peaked because it looked like the mark was left by a Hollow.

"Where'd you get that?" Rukia asked while pointing to the mark. Orihime looked down and saw the mark. Her cheeks flushed and she began to think hurriedly.

"Oh this? This is nothing, I just got hit by a car, it's no big deal." She said awfully fast. Rukia was barely able to keep up. Rukia knew something was up, but she decided not to pry any further.

"If you say so. By the way, my name is Rukia Kuchiki." She exclaimed proudly.

"That sounds fancy. Where do you go to school, Rukia?"

"School?" Rukia asked, puzzled. Orihime didn't seem affected by the question at all, and sported a determined look.

"School is a place where kids have to go to learn. Everyone under the age of 18 has to go, and they do lots of work and meet lots of friends." Orihime answered with conviction in her voice, as if she were giving a stern speech. Rukia was warmed by her antics. " _Well if a human is going to be able to see me, I'm glad it's this one."_

"Hey could you do me a favor?" Rukia asked.

"Sure, what do you need?"

"First of all could you show me where you live?" Rukia immediately regretted asking, knowing that would be impolite and weird to ask. She was surprised to see the girl unfazed. In fact, Orihime grabbed Rukia's wrist and ran off.

Unknown to Rukia and her new found friend, Ichigo was watching the scene unfold from atop a building across the street. He went, just in case he was needed. He didn't want anyone to die so he went to oversee the battle, but there wasn't one. He smiled to himself. " _I'm glad a Soul Reaper like Rukia found a friend."_ He thought to himself. The hollow that he sensed would have been tough. Not that he didn't have multiple forms stronger than his normal one, but he didn't usually like to be pushed into using bankai, or his Hollowization. He made his way over to the park that his sister was at. He watched as she said her goodbyes to her friends, promising that they'd play again tomorrow. She began walking home to the Kurosaki Clinic. He would walk with her. Standing by her side. He did this everyday with both of his sisters. He walked Yuzu and Karin to school, and walked Yuzu back to the clinic. Then he ran back to the park to look for Karin. He would wait for her to finish, then walk her back home. Zangetsu thought that Ichigo was depressing. However Ichigo couldn't disagree more. He loves this. More so than anything in the worlds, he loved walking by his sister's sides. He would get up early in the morning and run the fastest he could without using a flash step. And he would watch them eat breakfast, silently hoping that they would eat all of their meal so they could grow to their full potential. He imagined telling them to eat everything, and based off how well he knew them, he could create imaginary responses. Karin would growl at him to back off and Yuzu would want to impress him and she would eat with renewed vigor. This cycle couldn't make him any happier. He was always with his family. And he would bring hell upon any hollow that threatened them. He would bring hell upon anything that threatened them. And so when Karin arrived at the clinic, he waited outside, occasionally peeking in the house to watch the goings on in the house. He found their interactions fascinating. Eventually, it was time for bed. He snuck in the house, concealing his Spirit Energy with every fiber of his being. Since his father was an ex Soul Reaper, he couldn't even let a single drop of energy leak, for his father would surely sense it. This too, was part of his daily ritual, he had done this for years. He didn't want his Dad to think their was a Hollow in the house. He couldn't bear the thought of his Dad, or anyone else in his family ever seeing, hearing, or sensing him. He couldn't bear the thought of his family ever fearing him. He came to the conclusion, (with the guidance of Zangetsu,) that he would make sure his family would never know he, or anything else for that matter, was there. If he exposed himself, he would be exposing Yuzu and Karin to the world of war between the Soul Reapers and Hollows. Humans weren't meant to know, and he would protect them from the reality of the world until the day they died. Only in death, will he expose himself and tell them the truth. Then, he, will be the one to pass them on to the Soul Society. No one else but him. His blade, would be the only blade to ever touch them. That would be a sad day, since he couldn't see them beyond that point, but he would do it. For now though, he would hide his presence and sneak into their rooms. He would tuck them in, careful not to wake them, and watch them each for an equal amount of time. It was now time for him to call it a day. He would return in the morning. He made his way through the house and halfway through the door when...

"Ichigo…" Ichigo's entire body froze up. He visibly began to shake. He turned around to see his father, in a Soul Reaper uniform, with a captain's scarf hanging down his back like a cape. Ichigo couldn't believe what he was seeing. Zangetsu had assured him that his father could not ever regain his powers. So how could he see him?

"...H-How?" was the only thing he could think of. Isshin could understand his confusion. After all he himself just got his powers back. However instead of answering his question, he just looked at his dead son up and down. He wore a white Soul Reaper outfit, and kept his sword in Shikai form. He thought that was curios.

"Why use your Shikai?" Isshin asked calmly. Ichigo had started to get his bearings.

"Because Getsuga Tensho doesn't work in it's resting state, and Zangetsu doesn't mind being in Shikai all the time." He responded coldly. In his head he was panicking. He had blown it. If it was just his Dad, he wouldn't mind, after all, he LOVED his Dad. He would kill for an opportunity to have a relationship with him, but he knew that his loudmouth Dad would make sure it's harder to see Yuzu and Karin as often as he did.

"You know, you aren't as sneaky as you think you are." Isshin said plainly. Ichigo didn't know him personally, but from what he has seen all his life, he isn't this serious.

"What exactly do you mean?" Ichigo at this point was a lot calmer, and able to think a lot clearer.

"Well for starters, you aren't that good at suppressing your energy. Not as good as you thought you were for the past years." Ichigo would scoff at him if he felt more comfortable. For now all he would do is see what his father wanted.

"So you caught me," Ichigo said with a faint smile. "What happens now?"

"I don't know," he said, calm as ever. "What do you want to happen?" The question hit Ichigo harder than he thought, the environment was awkward to say the least, but seeing him, seeing his father looking at him, in his eyes. Ichigo had been this close all along. For years, he had stood right there, looking at his father and his sisters. A ghost, watching. He had never been seen by the ones he loved the most. Though he died a boy, he stood now in front of his father, a young man. His eyes began to water, his vision becoming blurry, and this time he didn't want Zangetsu to talk to him about how warriors don't cry. He wanted his daddy to hold him. In the fastest flash step that Ichigo could attain without being in Bankai, he lounged at his father and wrapped his arms around him, begging to be held. Isshin just smiled warmly and returned the hug.

"Dad.." Ichigo sobbed. They stayed like that for a while. When Ichigo finally let go, his Dad gave him one of the goofiest smiles his Dad could give. Ichigo regained his composure. He no longer cared about keeping his family safe. Now all he wanted, was his family back. He selfishly now disregarded his reason for staying hidden in the first place. He wanted to wake up his sisters and have them see and hug him.

"You've grown strong Ichigo, I can feel it." Isshin said proudly.

"Thanks." Ichigo said. He didn't really know how to take a compliment from his father just yet.

"Come sit down and tell me what you've been up to." They sat down and talked all night. Ichigo told him of his adventures that he went on when not spying on his family. He went in vivid detail about the night he was taken. Isshin in turn talked about his many adventures, including the ones with his mother and how he lost his powers. Finally, when Ichigo and Isshin were convinced they knew all about one another, the sun showed signs of breaking through the night that enveloped the town.

"Karin can see ghosts." Isshin said matter of factly. He wasn't saying it to inform his son, since it was clear that he knew she could. It was more of a conversation opener. Isshin had a clear direction he wanted to go with this discussion.

"I know." Ichigo said solemnly.

"Yuzu has high spirit energy, she should be able to, soon enough anyway,"

"I guessed as much."

"They don't know anything about how things work in this world of ours." Before his talk with his Dad, Ichigo would have said he'd like to keep them ignorant of the truth, but now he wanted them to know, because he wanted to see them and be seen.

"Yeah, they don't know."

"You know you can't meet them quite yet, because of that right?

"Yeah I know."

"If you give me a bit of time, I'll tell them about you. They're strong in their own right. They'll see you if they know you're there, but we don't want to overwhelm them."

"I agree."

"In the meantime I have a place that you can stay."

"Where is this place?"

"An ex-captain by the name of Kisuke Urahara, owns a candy shop. You could stay there." Ichigo pondered this for a moment, but ultimately he decided against it. After all, Zangetsu was ok with meeting people and fighting, but dealing with people for long periods of time makes him dislike them, if he doesn't dislike them already.

"No need, I have a cave in Hueco Mundo." He said. When he thought about Zangetsu, Ichigo noticed that he was awfully quiet. Ichigo appreciated the gesture, letting him have his private time with his Dad, but it was time for the two to go home. Isshin nodded as confirmation.

"Before you go, I have a bit of a job for you. I can't do it myself since I'm here with the kids."

"Yeah yeah, what do you want?" Ichigo asked grumpily.

"Hey don't be such a sour-puss. Anyway there's a matter in Hueco Mundo I'd like you to take care of." Ichigo stared back at his father looking uninterested, but that was just his face. His interest was peaked. "A Soul Reaper in a nearby town was attacked, mangled actually."

"So? It happens when Soul Reapers go out hunting." Ichigo officially lost interest. He wanted to help, but he won't run errands.

"He was an ex-Lieutenant. And a strong one at that."

"So you think he was attacked by a strong Hollow? Or multiple one's? I know there are some tough Hollows out there, some can get really strong, but unless it's a type of Menos, it's hardly worth the trouble of actually tracking down. I'll still do it if you want, but I'll be away for a little while."

"I wouldn't ask you if it was something like that, after all, I know how much you like spending time close to Yuzu and Karin. It's something bigger than just a regular old Menos. We're talking about an Adjuchas, one that has nearly completed its transformation into a Vasto Lorde."

Just then, Ichigo could feel the sword on his back pulsate. Ichigo internally rolled his eyes. Zangetsu loved fighting. Absolutely loved it.

"So you want me to prevent this Adjuchas from completing the final stage of a Menos?"

"Yeah. Will you take it down?"

"I know it's been 6 years, but surely you're a better father than that. Vasto Lorde are supposed to be stronger than captains."

"I know, but you aren't exactly a captain, are you?"

"No, I'm just a lowly Hollow." Isshin just smirked.

"I have complete confidence in you!" Isshin said while grinning wildly and throwing his shoulder over his son.

"Oh great." Ichigo groaned. With their goodbyes being said to one another, Ichigo opened the Garganta back home to track down this pre-Vasto Lorde

Ichigo stepped through the Garganta, halfway expecting to be lounged at when he passed through. This time he was lucky, and had no problem with getting to his cave. In Hueco Mundo, there is not much to use, as far as materials for decorating a home, but he has made his little cave as cozy as possible. He knew if he wanted to succeed in tracking down this Adjuchas, he'd need to use his trusty Torakkingufurai, (Tracking fly.) Over the years in Hueco Mundo, he has come across many different types of Hollows, some are actually born in Hueco Mundo and don't have any hunger at all, hunger for souls at least. One of the most rare however happens to be one of the most useful. The Torakkingufurai is a bug that feeds itself on the remnants of spiritual energy, and then follows that trail in order to feed itself some more. Ichigo didn't have any other name to give this type of creature, so he named it Torakkingufurai. It came in handy to have one just for this type of scenario. Truth be told, he should be able to sense spirit energy to track down the Adjuchas himself, but he has always been bad at it, so he'll use another resource to make up for it.

" _Hey, Zangetsu, why so quiet?"_ Ichigo was wondering why he was being so silent, usually you couldn't get him to shut up.

" _Do I always have to keep you company?"_

" _No, I was just curious."_ Ichigo could see out of the corner of his eyes, Zangetsu manifesting himself, next to his bed. When he was fully manifested, he plopped himself onto Ichigo's bed with a content smile, someone who didn't know him would think that his smile wasn't content, they would think it was an evil and mischievous smile. Ichigo however, knew that Zangetsu was quite happy with himself. Zangetsu had grown along with Ichigo. Over the years, all of Ichigo's features were seen on Zangetsu. Ichigo thought it was the other way around, but Zangetsu assured Ichigo that wasn't the case. Zangetsu always sported the same clothing Ichigo was wearing, though opposite in color. Ichigo on his part, decided it was best for a change of cloths. After all, he didn't exactly love the white-edition Soul Reaper garb. He looked through his closet and found a white, long sleeve, tight dri-fit, shirt. As plain as plain can be. He looked through his pants collection, and found some white pants, with two thin black stripes coming down the pants from the sides. He liked this look. He had a the same outfit with a black and white trim, but he concluded that he wanted to keep the white look going. The Soul Reaper garb was cool and all, but too loose for his taste. He liked tight clothing better, if for no other reason than to show off his figure. He reasoned that when he was in his Bankai form, he looked awfully cool. Being content with his outfit, he turned to his partner. He too, had changed his clothes. Wearing the same thing as Ichigo, only black with a pinch of white.

"Ready to hit the road, partner?" Zangetsu mocked.

"Yeah, I'm ready." With that, Ichigo strode over to the back of the cave, where he kept his supplies. His supplies consisted of no supplies, but knick knacks that he has collected over the years. The good thing about keep a Torakkingufurai around, is he could keep him in a jar, and never have to feed him. He just eats the Spirit Energy of Ichigo when he isn't around. He finally found the jar, and the bug inside was lively. He took the jar, strapped Zangetsu to his back via the endless cloth making up the hilt of the weapon, and set his sites on Kitakyushu, the city where the Soul Reaper friend of his father has killed. He opened the Garganta and set his course. He knew it was going to be a pretty long while for this bug to track down this pre-Vasto Lorde, depending on how far it's gotten, it could take half a year to track this thing down, but it had to be done. Vasto Lorde were so incredibly few, and so incredibly powerful, that Ichigo had to do everything he could to prevent this being from becoming one. Even if he lost his life. His father, having regained his powers, would watch over his sisters.

 **July 17th, Hueco Mundo**

Ichigo had lived in Hueco Mundo since he was 9 years old, and he had been around. Though he had to admit that he had no memory of ever being this far away from his little cave. Hueco Mundo is a very, very, large place. It's total surface area is immeasurable, but if you did measure, you'd find that its surface area was several times larger than that of Earth, oceans included. He usually didn't like to stray too far into the world of dessert. After all, he wasn't even close to the strongest thing out there, and he didn't want to die. He would have been a bit wary if he didn't have Zangetsu tightly warped against his back. The Torakkingufurai had been growing and growing, a sure sign that the Spirit Energy it's consuming is getting closer. Ichigo himself was beginning to feel a power, but it didn't seem malevolent. The reason behind Ichigo's inability to sense things at a high level, was due to him sensing intentions rather than power. He couldn't sense you behind several walls, but he could tell where you were by focusing on a killing intent. This was his very own homing beacon. Though, the closer Ichigo got to the source of this power, the more he couldn't place exactly what it's hunger was for. _Man, what's this Hollow's deal? Does it like to eat air? It's like it doesn't even care that there's a hole in it's chest."_ Ichigo was the only Hollow he had ever met who didn't have the ability, or the desire, to eat souls. So he was surprised at how hard it was to get a read on this particular Hollow's presence. Usually if he wanted to sense a Hollow, he would concentrate on what creatures around him wanted to eat. If he wanted to sense a Soul Reaper, he would focus on what wanted to kill a Hollow. Though this particular situation was getting on his nerves. Just when he was about to scream in irritation, he approached the end of a cliff and looked across, what looked like a dried up river bed. It's like he was standing on a pear looking at a dry ocean. Than, the Torakkingufurai companion of his started buzzing and flew as fast as it could toward a figure Ichigo hadn't noticed until the fly started toward it. The figure looked like a women in the distance. Ichigo was convinced that this was the Adjuchas that he was targeting.

The wondering Hollow had been sensing another Hollow following it for weeks now. It couldn't tell why, but it could guess that it was just another mindless Hollow that wanted to eat a large amount of power. It decided to lead the chasing Hollow to an open field and confront it. The buzzing sound of a fly could be heard, it turned to look and gazed upon an overgrown Torakkingufurai. " _It used this to track me? So the hollow is at least an Adjuchas."_ Before another thought could be gathered a large blue light of pure energy and destruction threatened to obliterate everything in it's path. Using its fine tuned instincts, the Hollow jumped out of the way and landed roughly 30 feet away from the initial blast. The Hollow looked up to gaze at its attacker.

"It took me a while, but I finally found you. Let's get the introduction's out of the way, I'm Ichigo Kurosaki." The Hollow looked up at Ichigo curiously.

" _He looks just like a human boy. Dresses and talks like one too. So why does he feel so Hollow-like?"_

Being able to look down on the Hollow for the first time up close, Ichigo could clearly make out the features of a women. Her Hollow Mask was a horse's face, but other than the Hollow mask, Ichigo couldn't tell the difference between her body versus the body of a typical, well-endowed women. On top of the head of the Hollow, she had teal-blue/green hair that went down to her lower back. She wore a dark green, full body robe, complete with a hood, which she did not wear. She had an extremely large, double edged lance strapped to her back.

When she spoke, her voice was as soft and warm as any voice Ichigo had ever heard in his life. It sounded like Yuzu's, only a little bit higher in pitch. "Why have you been following me?" She asked. Ichigo was a bit dazed but he moved to answer when the voice of Zangetsu invaded his mind.

" _Ichigo, how stupid are you?! Look at her!"_

" _What are you on about now?"_ Ichigo thought with a grumpy tone.

" _Get serious you idiot! She's a Vasto Lorde!"_ Ichigo's eyes visibly widened with Zangetsu's statement. In Ichigo's life, he had come close to death only once, and it was at the hand of a Vasto Lorde. He had gotten stronger since then, but he the fear still lingered a bit. He composed himself and looked at the women. He had been too late. He wanted to prevent this, but he couldn't. He wanted to run, but he was no coward. He'd fight. He was brought out of his thoughts by the same sweet voice.

"My name is Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck." She said.

"Tell me, are you a Vasto Lorde?" Ichigo demanded.

"Yes, I've recently completed my evolution as a menos. I'm a Vasto Lorde." Ichigo wondered how powerful she was. If she could have ended the fight quickly, then he reasoned that she would. Is she stalling for something. His thoughts were interrupted once more. "I don't know what you are or what your motives are, but I don't want to fight you." She claimed.

"You might not want to fight me, but you had no problem killing that Soul Reaper in Kitakyushu." Nelliel's posture visibly slouched. " _So it's true, I did kill him."_ Ichigo didn't know exactly what was going on.

"I'm sorry about him. I was an Adjuchas back then. I didn't really know what I was thinking."

"Why don't you want to fight me?"

"Why would I want to fight you? I have no reason to. I don't want to fight anyone." Ichigo was morally torn. She wasn't responsible for the actions of the Adjuchas her, was she? " _Damn it, why is this my decision."_

"How do I know what you're saying is true?"

"I'm sorry, but I have no proof."

"How do I know that you're really as pacifistic as you act?"

"Believe me, or not." This slightly angered Ichigo.

"You expect me to just walk away from you because you claim you don't want to fight me?!" Nelliel took a second to gather her thoughts.

"When Adjuchas become Vasto Lorde, they no longer need to feed. They also gain a more human form, along with gaining the ability to think logically. Depending on the personality of the Vasto Lorde, we also gain morals and ethics that guide our reasoning. I don't want to fight. You or anyone else." Ichigo couldn't argue with her explanation, but for all he knew, it could be a ploy to get him to leave, or drop his guard. He needed to be weary.

"Sorry, but I don't buy it. Beat me in battle, and if you truly are as peaceful as you say, spare me. But don't expect me to just turn around and walk away because you say a few words." Nelliel nodded her head.

"Very well, only if it can't be helped." She pulled the double-edged lance from the sash that kept it across her back. Once both their weapons were drawn, they both got into their respective stances, preparing themselves for battle.

 **A/N Hey I updated. XD Btw if you don't ever like the outfits I give to the character's, feel free to give them different ones when you imagine what they're doing in your head. XD Oh and in my story Nell is a Vasto Lorde. Sorry, if she wasn't, it'd be hard to justify them having an actual battle. And just in case your wonder how strong Ichigo is, he is able to use the full force of Zangetsu, and was trained by Zangetsu, so picture permanent Hollow Mask Ichigo and thats roughly how strong he was. That doesn't mean he is going to win every fight, and it doesn't mean that fights wont be hard for him, because fights will definitely be tough. Even if I have to make certain character's a bit stronger. Trust me, Ichigo has his work cut out for him, he isn't super strong.**


	3. Meeting with the Snakes

**A/N Hey guess what? Hehehehehe ohhhhhh Chp 3. Let's get it.**

 **July 17th, Hueco Mundo**

Nelliel held her weapon in her right hand, gazing steadily at Ichigo, waiting for him to make his move. Ichigo was happy to oblige to their silent agreement, he would strike first. He grabbed the cloth of his sword and threw it at Nelliel, who in return blocked the heavy cleaver with relative ease, but Ichigo wasn't trying to beat her yet, he just wanted to get a read on her power and get into the flow of the fight. He launched Zangetsu at her in a flurry of attacks from his stationary position. Everytime he made contact with her lance, he ripped Zangetsu back quickly, only to immediately chuck it back using more force. When Ichigo was giving it his full strength he noticed that his opponent blocked it with the same ease as his first attack. " _So she's that strong huh? Let's see how she thinks."_

Nelliel wouldn't let it show, but she was very impressed with the brute strength of the boy. She could keep blocking all day, but the gap in their physical strength was small. She was also impressed with Ichigo's craftyness with his sword. " _The hilt of his sword is made of cloth, by gripping the cloth he can flail his sword around, using it for mid-range use. Very impressive."_ Another clash of swords. Then another. Ichigo pulled Zangetsu back to swipe at her again, and just as she thought he was going to try and hit her with his sword again, she heard Ichigo yell:

"Getsuga Tensho!" She saw the sword, only a few feet away from her, envelope itself in a bright blue light, just as she saw earlier. She had no time to react. All she could do was brace herself, for she knew it would take much more than that. The force of his attack seemingly passed through her, leaving her unscathed. "Trying to test my durability as well." She mumbled to herself instead of thinking it in her head. The smoke hadn't even began to clear yet when she felt a hand gently, yet firmly clutch her shoulder.

"I wasn't trying to test your durability, I was trying to get a read on your agility. I thought you were relying heavily on your strength during our exchanges, so I wanted to see if you could dodge." He readied Zangetsu to her back and thrust forward, yet before his blade reached her, she completely disappeared. His eye's were stricken with shock. Not even a nano-second followed after her disappearance, she reappeared above Ichigo and brought her sword down upon him. Ichigo had one course of action. "Ban-" Before he could finish, she halted her advance from above and reappeared in front of him, with her back turned.

"This fight is over." She said calmly. Ichigo's face contorted in both confusion and anger.

"What? Fight's over?! You didn't even beat me! I still have like, two more forms left!" He lifted up his two fingers and shook them violently in comedic fashion. Nelliel turned to look at Ichigo.

"Why do you feel so much like a Hollow?" She asked, truly interested.

"Because I kinda am one." Ichigo clutched the back of his head and shrugged. Nelliel was confused. "Wanna hear my explanation?" She just nodded.

"Ok so," he cleared his throat and did several throat exercises. "I was born a Quincy/Soul Reaper/Hollow combination. I was killed when I was 9, my mother got killed right in front of me. The trauma of seeing that and being killed turned me into a hollow. Being turned into a hollow awakened my Soul Reaper/Hollow powers and my Zanpakuto came and saved me." He stated perfectly, never even pausing.

"That seemed rehearsed." Nelliel accused.

"It was." Ichigo replied grumpily. "Do you know how many times a year I get asked the same question?" Nelliel nodded.

"Fair enough." She said. "So do you want to keep fighting?" She asked expectantly.

Ichigo closed his eyes. "No, I think I've had my fill. I didn't think I would come all this way just to fight for 30 seconds and leave, but you seem nice enough." Ichigo's eyes shot open when he felt a warmth wrapping around him. Nelliel had wrapped her arms around his neck. Just as soon as she did, she let go and turned around.

"Well then. Goodbye and Farewell." With that, she turned around, and walked away. Ichigo just stood there with his eye twitching. Soon enough he couldn't see or sense her. " _All that traveling for nothing."_ Zangetsu said in Ichigo's inner world.

" _Don't start with me."_

 **Evening, July 18th, World of the Living**

Ichigo's headache had been steadily growing ever since he left to go to Earth. Zangetsu's antics have irritated Ichigo non-stop. One plus is that Ichigo had created a new insult to hurl at his Hollow counterpart because of all his blabbing. Ichigo had started to refer to Zangetsu as a clown. This drove the manifestation absolutely insane. More so than he already was.

" _For the love of God, could you be quiet?"_

" _Not until you take back that clown-thing you said earlier!"_

" _It's not my fault you look and act like a clown!"_ Ichigo thought as he stepped through the Garganta. The site that followed had an immediate effect on the intensity of his headache. He stepped through the Garganta that was high above the air. He was high enough to get a good look at the town. Everywhere he looked, he saw dozens of Hollows all over the place. Before he could voice his complaints to Zangetsu, a giant Garganta opened, and a Gillian stepped through.

Ichigo stood in the air, just stumped as to how things could get so bad in a short 2 months. Then it hit him; were his sisters ok? His anger soon got the best of him as he flew through the air toward the Gillian. The Hollow sensed Ichigo and began to charge a Cero, but Ichigo flash stepped up to the Hollow and fired a point blank Getsuga Tensho, effectively disrupting the Cero, and tearing the Gillian in two parts entirely.

In an explosion of a disrupted Cero and an anger-powered Getsuga Tensho, all Hollows in the entire city looked at the display of a giant Hollow completely disintegrating. Upon seeing this site, even the least intelligent of the Hollow's thought best to take their leave. In a matter of minutes, all the Hollow in the city retreated.

Ichigo looked down on a park and saw multiple people with high spirit energy, and decided to ask them what was going on. He dropped down, and all eyes were on him immediately. He looked around and saw two children, a big tanned man, a white guy dressed in all green, a dark haired boy with glasses, the girl that he saw with Rukia that one day wearing Soul Reaper clothes, and finally Rukia herself.

"Anyone wanna tell me what the hell was going on here?"

 **A/N For anyone interested in how Orihime became a Soul Reaper, tell me in a review to make a side story about it. Otherwise read the Author's Notes at the end.**

 **Night time, July 18, World of the Living**

"So let me get this straight, Orihime got turned into a Soul Reaper after Rukia gave her powers at the cost of her own, now you two go to school together and fight Hollows, Uryuu senses this and challenges Orihime to a contest to see who could kill more Hollows, and he uses Hollow Bait to attract a horde of Hollows to the town, it got out of hand and that's when I showed up. Am I right?" Everyone at the round table of Kisuke Urahara's meeting room nodded their heads.

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard of anyone doing." Ichigo growled, looking at Uryuu. Uryuu just bowed his head in shame at how badly he screwed up. Eventually, Ichigo got done with his temper tantrum and everyone started to leave. Before Ichigo walked out the door, Kisuke wanted to have a word, so Ichigo sat down once again.

"So," he began. "You're Isshin's son. Pleased to meet your acquaintance." He bowed his head slightly.

"Yeah so what did you wanna talk about?" Ichigo asked. Kisuke chuckled at this.

"Straight to the point I see." Then Kisuke got a bit more serious. "You're a Hollow with Soul Reaper powers. Am I right?" Ichigo nodded. "Have you by any chance, been contacted, or at least heard of Sosuke Aizen?" Ichigo raised his eyebrows while looking to the side and scratching his chin.

"I've never been contacted by him, but I've heard of him. Why?"

"Sosuke Aizen isn't who everyone thinks he is. He's a criminal, obsessed with creating and army of Hollow/Soul Reaper-hybrids, called Arrancar, to serve him." Ichigo slumped back, awaiting to hear where he was going with this. "He can't make that army yet though. He needs something called the Hogyoku to create his army of Arrancar."

"So where is this Hogyoku?"

"It's in Rukia."

"Does she know?"

"No, and she can't know either."

"Well why not?! It's her body!"

"Easy, easy. It's not like I could tell her after all these years anyway." Ichigo was confused.

"After all these years? What do you mean?"

"Before I was exiled out of the Soul Society, I planted the Hogyoku in Rukia. To be honest, I had no idea at the time that she would become a Soul Reaper. It's unfortunate to say the least, but that's just the way things worked out. So imagine my surprise when I heard that she had given up her Soul Reaper powers to Orihime Inoue. I figured it was the perfect opportunity to keep her in the World of the Living, safe from Aizen's clutches." This was a lot to take in, even for Ichigo, but he couldn't help but agree.

"Yeah, if this Aizen guy is as bad as you say, then we need to keep Rukia as far away from him as possible." Ichigo concluded.

"Agreed. However, we also need to keep Aizen away from you."

"And why is that?" Ichigo wondered.

"Because you are exactly what he is trying to create, Ichigo. If Aizen gets his hands on you, there's no telling what he'd be able to do." Kisuke knew that Aizen must already know of Ichigo's existence. There's no telling what he might be planning. "That's why revealing yourself to your family was the worst thing you could have done for them." Ichigo's ears perked up about this. "Aizen is ruthless, and will use anything to get what he wants. Blackmail, kidnapping, you name it and he'll do it to get what he wants." Ichigo remembered his reason for keeping his presence unknown. He already knew he had blown it, now he knew how badly.

"What can I do?" Ichigo asked.

"Not much we can do now. All we can do is keep Rukia off the radar, for now. Anyway, I won't keep you any longer. You can go back home now."

"Ok, let me know if there's something I can do." Ichigo said as he was leaving. The revelation of the Captain of Squad 5 being such a villain certainly was exhausting. Though Ichigo would be sure to keep him from reaching his goals. Even if it meant protecting a Soul Reaper. Ichigo opened a Garganta and then stepped through. He was as tired as he could possibly be without acting sluggish. He looked into the cave and moved to put down his sword when he heard Zangetsu.

" _Not so fast, partner."_

" _Ugh. What now?"_

" _Someone's coming."_ Ichigo concentrated and felt the presence of someone clearly. He walked outside to be greeted by a man he'd never seen before.

"Why hello, you must be Ichigo Kurosaki, am I right?" The man said with a smile almost as creepy as Zangetsu's.

"Who exactly are you? And what do you want with me?" Ichigo asked the man.

"My name is Gin Ichimaru. It's nice to finally see you, after hearing so much about you." He said with the same smile. Ichigo didn't recognize him, or his name, but he did recognize the captain's uniform he was wearing. "As for what I want from you, I just want to spar a bit."

" _A captain, coming all this way just to spar with me? Somethings up, and I bet it has something to do with Aizen."_ Ichigo thought. He decided not to play along. There was no point in playing his game. He would rather be blunt anyway.

"Did Aizen send you?" Ichigo spat. Gin smiled his usual one.

"Oh dear, it looks like you're on to me. How unfortunate." Ichigo scowled and drew his sword.

"Threatening me?" Ichigo scowled. Gin raised his hands in front of his face and shook them.

"No no, I was talking for myself. It makes my job harder is all." Gin smiled.

"Your _job?"_

"Yes, my job. Now if I may ask a question?" Ichigo debated on hearing him out, but decided against it.

"Save it! I don't wanna hear any of your nonsense." Ichigo stood firm.

"Oh darn. Well could we at least have our little fight?" Ichigo wondered how strong he had to be.

" _Such confidence. He openly mocks me with a condescending smile and tone, and comes here looking for a fight."_

"Should I take your silence as a yes?" Ichigo was brought back to reality.

"Sure, let's fight." Ichigo said while readying himself.

"Wait not yet." Ichigo looked puzzled. "Let's not use a Shikai, after all, we are just sparring." Gin said with a grin.

"So does that mean I don't get to kill you?" Ichigo scoffed. Gin just snickered at him.

"My my, I'd rather you not kill me, after all, I do have things to live for." Gin said sadisticly.

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

"That's a secret." Ichigo had enough. He rested Zangetsu, banishing his Shikai, and instead of his long cleaver, he sported a regular Japanese sword with a white hilt, but black cloth delicately wrapped around, with a trim of red.

"Is this what you had in mind?" Ichigo asked. Not that his Zanpakuto was that impressive in its resting state, but no Zanpakuto was.

"Yes but I'm a bit confused. The reports state that your resting Zanpakuto is a large sword. Not a slender, normal one."

"Your reports are outdated. I used to not be able to control my spirit energy all that well, so my resting Zanpakuto took the form of an oversized katana. To be honest, the reason why my Zanpakuto is always in it's Shikai is because I still can't control all of my Spirit Energy. Since it's always so unfocused, it doesn't leave my body with any strain at all."

"I see. So when did you learn you could make a regular Zanpakuto?" Gin asked. Ichigo smirked with his eyes shadowed by his hair.

"Just now." Gin was about to give a quip back, but Ichigo beat him to it by Flash Stepping in front of him and slashing horizontally at his target. Gin caught the sword by pinching it between his index finger and thumb with his left hand. Ichigo couldn't believe what he just saw. " _He caught it, with his bare hands?"_

"Aren't we the hasty one? I didn't even say go yet, and you just rushed in. Tsk tsk." Gin chuckled to himself. Ichigo didn't linger on the situation for too long, he kicked Gin in the side, which didn't hurt him all that badly, but it got him to loosen the grip on Ichigo's sword. When he got his sword back, he flash stepped to the other side of Gin, and plunged his sword forward, only to have Gin easily dodge it. Ichigo wasn't finished though, as he was falling forward, he did a front flip. While he was in the air and his legs weren't being used, he spun sideways to deliver a kick to Gin's face. Gin was surprised by this once more. The kick connected with a hard _thump_ , and Gin was sent only a couple feet back. Ichigo landed on his feet, and began to charge at him again. Gin was able to dodge, or parry, all attacks that Ichigo sent his way. Ichigo flash stepped away to regain his footing, after having lost it in one of his failed attempts to attack.

As soon as Ichigo landed, a pair of feet that weren't his own, landed with him. He sensed the danger and whirled his sword around diagonally to cut down Gin, but he dodged again. Ichigo attempted to kick Gin using his back foot, but Gin caught his foot and threw him to the side.

"I'm sensing a pattern here," Gin said. "Every so often you use an unarmed attack to confuse your opponents. Usually after a failed attempt to hit something. That's very interesting, after all, only crude fighters fight with their entire body." Gin concluded. Ichigo had run into powerful Soul Reapers, but this guy was on a much different level. Ichigo gritted his teeth.

"What exactly do you want?" Ichigo demanded to know the reason for him coming by.

"Didn't I already tell you? I want to spar with you to test your strength." Gin had only changed his expression twice in the last couple of minutes, and he was getting kicked both of those times. Ichigo resolved that to be as arrogant as he is, he has to be that strong.

"So when are you gonna be finished with you little test?" Ichigo was getting impatient.

"Well, am I to assume that you dislike our time together?" Gin asked, while trying to sound innocent. Ichigo just scowled. "Fine fine, I'll take my leave, if you answer a question of mine." Ichigo wouldn't tell him anything sensitive to anybody he knew. Nor would he give out locations, but Ichigo could guess what Gin wanted to know. He wants to know how Ichigo learned of Aizen and his true nature, and he didn't see harm in answering if the enemy had no idea where his shop was.

"I bet you wanna ask me about how I knew about Aizen." Ichigo surmised.

"Why would I want to know that?" Ichigo was surprised that wasn't the question he wanted answered. "I presume you got to talking with Urahara at his shop in Karakura Town. Why would I want to know the exact scenario? It makes no difference to me." Gin said with his normal grin. Ichigo was stunned. Preparing to ask a flurry of questions, Ichigo drew a big breath, but was beaten to it by Gin. "You can relax, I have no plans of visiting them."

"Then what's your question?" Ichigo asked through gritted teeth. Gin's smile grew further.

"I'd like to pick your brain about philosophy." Ichigo's face turned with uninterest. Gin's face got deadly serious and he opened his eyes to reveal beautiful baby blue orbs. "If you could save the lives of your family, would you sell your spine?"

Immediately after he finished speaking, Gin's face turned to his normal expression. He closed his eyes and smiled. Ichigo thought for a moment that he was threatening him, but realized that it must of been more of a metaphorical question.

"Yeah, I would." He said coldly. Gin smiled back at him.

"That's good to hear." He then turned around, and began to walk away. "I'll be seeing you, Ichigo Kurosaki." What an odd fellow. If everyone in Aizen's squad is like this then he was in trouble. He decided it was best not to follow him or try to ask him about what he meant. He instead, decided it would be best to take this opportunity to sleep. He walked over to his cave and sat down on his bed. He had nothing but odd encounters lately. All he needed now was to sleep.

 **July 19, Evening, Hueco Mundo**

Ichigo's eyes fluttered open. He looked over to the table that Zangetsu was laying on, in it's Shikai form. He hadn't released it, but he figured Zangetsu decided to release itself. He looked over at the clock on the wall of the cave opposite of his bed. It would be evening in the Living World. He figured that he should get back to Earth, just to make sure everything was ok. He had slept in his clothes, and so he didn't need to get dressed. He grabbed his partner and stepped outside of his cave. Ichigo opened the Garganta and stepped through.

 **Meanwhile, World of the Living.**

Orihime was searching frantically around for her friend that had ran off. " _What does she think she's doing? Does she expect me to just let her walk away? After all the adventures we've had, she should know that I could never turn my back on her."_ Orihime was trying to sense Rukia but wasn't having any luck picking up on her spiritual pressure. Just when she was about to start searching in a different part of the town, she sensed a battle going on faintly in the distance. " _Oh no, Rukia!"_ Orihime bolted to the place of the rise in Spiritual Pressure. She didn't know what was going on, but Rukia's letter to her wasn't going to keep her away, and she would fight to protect her from whatever it was she was so afraid of. She rounded a corner and spotted Rukia along with Uryuu. Rukia looked as if she was a bit worn, and Uryuu was standing in front of her protectively. Orihime looked on to see a red haired male, in a Soul Reaper's garb. His sword was drawn and pointed at Uryuu. Orihime rushed to his side, and drew her own sword.

"Oh man, another one? Piss off, both of you! This matter doesn't concern you." The red-head said. Orihime turned to Rukia.

"What's going on Rukia?" She asked.

"What are you doing here, Orihime?" Rukia panicked.

"I'm here for you. I knew something was off when I read your letter."

"You shouldn't be here!" Rukia exclaimed. Orihime and Rukia's conversation was interrupted by the red-headed attacker.

"Hey you, with the orange hair. Why do you have Soul Reaper clothes on? Are you the human that Rukia gave her powers to?" The man asked with anger. Orihime stood her ground however.

"So what if I am? Is that a crime?" She asked rhetorically, not expecting an answer.

"As a matter of fact, it is. Soul Reapers are forbidden from lending their power to humans. In edition to giving away her powers, she also hasn't reported to the Soul Society in months." Orihime was shocked at the knowledge of this law, but she wouldn't let the Soul Society take her.

"And just you are you to take her away from where she wants to be? That law is stupid!"

"Know your place human! I am the lieutenant of the 6th division under Byakuya Kuchiki, Renji Abarai." Renji stated with pride. Orihime blinked a couple of times at his speech.

"Woah really? That sounds cool!" She stated with wonder. Rukia, Renji, and Uryuu just sweat dropped at Orihime. Then, out of the cover of darkness, stepped out a figure.

"Captain Kuchiki!" Renji greeted.

"Get on with it." He said solemnly while looking down, with his eyes closed. Renji bit his lip.

"Yes sir." He said defeatedly, turning toward the quincy and the un-official substitute of Rukia. "Time to die."

"Renji don't do this! I'll go peacefully!" Rukia pleaded from behind Orihime.

"It's too late for that!" Renji said while charging at the group. Uryuu summoned his bow, and fired an arrow, but Renji jumped out of the way into the air.

"Roar, Zabimaru!" He shouted, and his sword transformed into a cleaver with 6 spikes of silver protruding out of is sharp side. The sword then extended itself, like a chain whip. Renji, while still in the air, launched his blade toward Uryuu, who was unable to dodge. The blade slashed at Uryuu diagonally, incapacitating him. Orihime watched with horror, as the man who had beaten her just yesterday, was taken out in one strike.

"Now for you! Zabimaru, tear her to shreds!" Renji shouted. Before the long blade could hit the stationary figure of Orihime, Rukia pushed her out of the way.

"Run away Orihime!" Rukia shouted as a plea. Orihime could see the fear and panic in her eyes. She stood up, and looked at her with a ferocity that Rukia had not ever seen her with.

"No, I cannot leave you." She said with determination. She looked on at Renji and pointed her sword at him. "Let's go." She challenged. Renji got angered by this.

"Oh challenging me now, are you? Well guess what, you won't even be able to lay a scratch on me. You know why? Because you're nothing but a worthless human who can't even comprehend how weak she is. I'm surprised you can even control your spirit energy enough to make your Zanpakuto an average length. An-" He was cut off by Orihime charging at him. " _Fine, if you're in such a hurry to die."_ Renji pulled Zabimaru back and swung it at Orihime vertically, who barely managed to block it. The force of the attack however, was enough to make a crater in the ground and make Orihime fall down on her back. Before she could get up Renji managed to close in on her. " _It's over he thought."_

Orihime saw the blade coming down on her. She knew the blade was aimed at her heart, and she couldn't do anything about it. Time seemed to move in slow motion. She was helpless, so she decided she didn't want to see the end coming, and closed her eyes and waited for the blow to come to her chest. Then, her world went black.

 **A/N, so Orihime low-key took Ichigo's place lol. I thought it'd be fun for a little bit. Anyway, if you want a side - story about how she got her powers or if you want any other adventures that she had before this event then let me know. I'd gladly write about it but if you don't want a full segment of a chapter devoted to that then the general idea is: her hollow brother attacked her and Rukia had to save her but she got cut up because of it so she decided to give her power to Orihime so she could fight her brother. For the record, all of the adventures that Ichigo went through before ep. 16, Orihime went through them in my story. Again if you want me to talk about it than let me know in a review. If not then wait a day or so for the next chapter. XD Byeee**


	4. Kidnapping and Revenge

**Really sorry for the long wait for those you are following the story, I'll be sure to update more like I did when the story first came out. Anywho for those of you who are leaving reviews and encouraging me to keep going, thank you! XD**

 **July 19th, Evening, World of the Living**

Ichigo was hurriedly running across the rooftops of Karakura Town, frantically trying to get to the place he sensed the disturbance of spiritual pressure. He sensed it as soon as he passed through the Garganta. He could feel the energy of multiple Soul Reapers. Normally, he wouldn't care as long as none of them tried to mess with him, but he could feel Rukia among them. If Kisuke was right about Aizen and his plans, then Ichigo would not let him have Rukia.

"Why do you even care?" Ichigo heard the voice of Zangetsu imitating from his Zanpakuto.

" _Not now Zangetsu."_ Ichigo retorted in his head. He couldn't let Zangetsu distract him from getting to the bottom of what's going on. However Zangetsu didn't like to be ignored.

"What does it matter to you what happens? Why involve yourself in a war between Soul Reapers?" Ichigo was rarely baffled by how inconsiderate Zangetsu could be, but this question was just idiotic.

" _Are you listening to yourself? I couldn't care less about a war between Soul Reapers, but this affects my family."_ Zangetsu had expected him to say that. However Zangetsu thought he just said that as an excuse to be the hero.

"Don't use your sisters as your scapegoat to rush in and save the day! This doesn't affect your sisters in the slightest! What does Aizen and his little war have to do with you and your family?" Ichigo rarely heard Zangetsu get so passionate, but he was not moved by his partners antics.

" _What if Yuzu and Karin get in the middle of this little war? If I do nothing and they get hurt, I'd never forgive myself!"_

"The only reason they would get involved is because of their affiliation with you! I told you not to get too close to them years ago but you but you didn't listen! You've given Aizen the perfect hostages! Any harm that comes to them is your fault!" Ichigo knew he was right. He should have just left them alone. Zangetsu told him that if he wanted to visit, he should do so every once in awhile, but Ichigo didn't listen. He'd seen them every day, and lead any pursuer he had right to them. He should have just stayed away, but he decided to selfishly put them in danger.

" _So what should I do? Just let Aizen have the Hogyoku? What if his army of Hollows takes over Karakura Town? Yuzu and Karin would get hurt!"_ Ichigo asked frantically. He debated on whether or whether not he should wait for a response from Zangetsu, but abandoned the idea since he probably just gave up anyway.

He knew the right thing to do was to help Rukia, regardless of the harm that might come to his family if he involves himself, but who was to say he was _supposed_ to do the right thing? Ichigo is kind at heart, and he often saves spirits and people from Hollows. He avoids killing the Soul Reapers that attack him, but why did he feel so compelled to do the right thing? The most important thing was having his sisters safe, but if that was the case, why did he get so close?

All of his doubt was swirling around him and constricting his throat. Images of his sisters being hurt or killed were flashing through his eyes. His vision of the possible future almost made him stop running to Rukia. How could he forgive himself if something happened to his sisters and he was the cause? His doubt was now consuming him. He was about to stop moving to get a better grip of himself, but Ichigo sensed a spike of power coming from the fight. He decided to let his body think for him. He completely let go of his conscience and let his instincts take over. He moved with renewed vigor and set his sights to stop the Hogyoku from getting to Aizen.

Ichigo rounded a sharp corner and spotted the source of spiritual pressure he's been rushing to. He didn't have time to take a look though, for as soon as his eyes looked down the street, Orihime was on the ground with a sword heading her direction, intent on killing her. He used a flash step so powerful, the ground cracked and splintered to pieces in the wake of his path to Orihime. He stood beside her and caught the assailants sword from the back of the blade's teeth.

The man had a look of utter shock on his face. "What the hell-" was all he could get out before Ichigo sent a vicious kick to the man's exposed chest. The man was sent flying backwards, only stopping after skidding for several meters. Now that Ichigo could look around, he saw Uryuu beaten and coughing next to a streetlight. Rukia was beginning to run over to Orihime to see if she was ok. Ichigo looked down to see that the man's Zanpakuto had barely lodged itself in her left arm. The attack was diagonal, meant to slice her in half. If Ichigo had waited another millisecond, the girl would have been long dead. " _But still, why would she pass out from a scratch like that?"_ Rukia caught up to them and knelt beside her.

"Orihime! Orihime are you alright?" Rukia asked while trying to lightly shake her. It was no use. She was completely unconscious.

"I think she's out cold." Ichigo said. Rukia saw the scratch and rolled her eyes. " _Of course she'd pass out from something like that."_ Rukia was brought out of her thoughts by a coughing Renji, struggling to stand. Ichigo also noticed and turned to look that way.

He looked to the man who attacked Orihime and found that he was on his feet, though clutching his chest. Ichigo looked to the man's left to see Byakuya Kuchiki, the most famous captain of all the 13 Court Guard Squads. Ichigo reasoned that since the red haired man accompanied the captain, he must be a seated member. It didn't matter though.

"I think this is yours." Ichigo said while tossing the man's sword to him. Ichigo looked to the Captain, "Hey Byakuya, is attacking 15 year old children how you got to be so popular?" Byakuya Kuchiki scowled at Ichigo's disrespect.

"And who are you?" Byakuya asked in his usual disinterested tone.

"I'm Ichigo. I think I'm going to beat you senseless, and then I'm gonna cut off all your hair." Ichigo said with an arrogant smile.

"I'd watch your mouth, boy." Byakuya said while drawing his sword.

" _Pfft, if this is the part where I'm supposed to be scared then I'm not impressed. Let's do this, Zangetsu!"_ Ichigo rallied in his head. He drew his sword, but he heard no answer from his partner. " _What's wrong Zangetsu?"_ Ichigo knew he was probably just pouty because of the argument before they got here. Ichigo was about to fire up a Getsuga Tensho, but Rukia stepped in front of him.

"Stop this, you don't need to meddle!" Rukia exclaimed. Ichigo rolled his eyes.

"Listen I can't let you go to the Soul Society with them, I'm sorry." Ichigo really didn't want to have to let her know that she has the Hogyoku inside her. Rukia looked puzzled by this. Surely he didn't have feelings for her, did he?

"Well why not?" Rukia asked, faking irritation to cover up her genuine curiosity.

"I just can't, ok?" Ichigo said with a comedic scowl. Rukia blushed a bright red.

"Do you have a crush on me?" She asked. Ichigo's eyes immediately shot open in distress.

" _What the hell is this girl thinking?"_ He thought to himself. "What? No! I just, um, uhhhh." Ichigo struggled to find words to say. His stuttering and hesitancy to speak only confirmed her suspicions. She pointed a finger at him and screamed, "YOU DO HAVE A THING FOR ME! I KNEW IT!" She exclaimed. Ichigo was horrified. Out of all the things in the world that could have happened, this ridiculousness plagued him? In the middle of a decisive battle? He stole a quick glance over to Byakuya, who was standing with his eyes closed, sword sheathed, hands behind his back, waiting patiently for things to get resolved.

" _Lucky bastard, I bet this crap doesn't happen to him."_ Ichigo thought to himself. He was brought out of his thoughts by Rukia, "So what do you have to say for yourself, falling for a girl you don't even know?"

"It's not like that!" Ichigo pleaded. However Rukia showed no signs of letting up. "Then tell me how it is then."

"Listen there's something special inside of you, and-" Ichigo once again struggled to find the right words to say. Rukia was now convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt.

"It's ok, say no more. I understand." Ichigo took this differently though, he thought that she reclaimed her senses and had a basic understanding of the situation.

"Oh good, now that we understand each other, I can fight Byakuya-" Ichigo said as Rukia planted a well aimed punch to Ichigo's windpipe. Ichigo lost his breath only for a moment or two, but during that time, Rukia made her way over to Byakuya.

"Brother, I'll go willingly, let's just go now, please." She said timidly, with her head down. Byakuya looked to be pondering for a second or two, and reluctantly nodded, signifying that he agreed to go that moment.

Byakuya opened up the Senkaimon and began to make his way to it. Renji however didn't want to leave just yet.

"Captain, you can't seriously be thinking that we should just leave, can you? We still need to kill-" Byakuya shot Renji a glare that told him the matter was not up for discussion.

"We've done what we came here to do. Now let's get going." Renji stood there baffled for a moment that they were just leaving, but he soon realized that the captain has made up his mind. He started to make his way over to the Senkaimon. Ichigo however, now fully recovered from the hit Rukia gave him, wasn't about to give up that easily. He raised his sword, gathering energy around him into his blade. He brought the blade down hard and screamed out the name of his attack, "Getsuga Tensho!" Byakuya, Renji, and Rukia turned to face him. Byakuya and Renji had no clue what his attack would do, or what it was _capable_ of doing. Rukia knew better though. This was the attack that he used to easily dispatch of a Menos Grande, something a seated member of any squad would have trouble doing. She braced herself for impact.

Ichigo didn't point his blade specifically at her, so she should be relatively fine, but he told himself that he would kill her if it came to it. If it was the only way to stop Aizen from getting the Hogyoku, he wouldn't hesitate. " _All I have to do now is separate her from them and subdue her."_ He thought. However as he brought his sword down towards the Captain, nothing happened. There was supposed to be a blue shot of raw energy slicing the captain to bits, but nothing happened at all. Ichigo looked curiously at his sword to get to the bottom of the defectiveness, but saw nothing wrong with it. He raised his sword once more and called out, "Getsuga Tensho!" Again, nothing happened. No blue light, and no beams of energy.

Byakuya seemed disinterested, by Ichigo and his attempt to do whatever it was he was trying to do, while Renji was trying to stifle a laugh. Rukia's reaction was different from theirs though. They could clearly see that whatever he tried to do had failed, but Rukia thought he was stopping it on purpose to avoid hurting her. She blushed once more and turned her head quickly, clearly embarrassed. She walked over to the Senkaimon and through it.

Ichigo was intent on getting his sword to work. He figured that Zangetsu must be behind this, he must be trying to stop him for whatever reason. He would deal with that problem later though, since Ichigo knew that Zangetsu wasn't strong enough to stop him for too long. As long as Ichigo knew that Zangetsu was trying to stop him, he could force his Zanpakuto to cooperate. His trusty companion had done this many times before out of irritation, but Ichigo figured out long again that he could override the will of Zangetsu. Just as he was about to force a Getsuga Tensho, for real this time, the Senkaimon closed, revealing an empty street.

Ichigo was puzzled for a second, thinking to himself, " _Where'd they go?"_ Reality soon enough hit him and he was left with a failure of a rescue. Ichigo had lost his chance at stopping them. He throw a wild punch at the ground and the road cracked beneath him. He could give chase, but he would most definitely die. " _Damnit Zangetsu, I hope your happy."_

Ichigo picked himself up and looked over to the two injured high school kids. Orihime had a peaceful expression on her face, like she was sleeping. Whereas Uryuu was bleeding and unconscious. Ichigo at least needed to get him to a hospital, he walked over to the boy and picked him up, bridal style. He didn't feel right about leaving Orihime like that, but he reasoned that if he sensed anything try to mess with her, he'd just rush to her anyway. He was about to take off, when a voice from the shadow of the streetlight called out to him.

"Going somewhere?" Ichigo recognized the voice as Kisuke. Though he wondered for a second why he would be there. " _He must have sensed the battle"_ Ichigo reasoned. He didn't want to admit that he failed, but Kisuke needed to be informed of what happened.

"They got her, Kisuke." Ichigo said looking down in depression. Kisuke's usual smile turned into a knowing and expressionless one. If Kisuke was in fact judging Ichigo and thought little of him because of his failure, he didn't show it. He didn't look happy, but he gave a look that Ichigo took as, " _I understand"_

"I see. Let's discuss what to do back at my shop." Kisuke said while turning to face Orihime. He walked over and scooped her up in his arms and began leading the way back to his candy shop.

 **Morning, July 20th, Urahara's Shop**

Orihime Inoue flickered her eyes open once or twice. She didn't want to wake up at all, she wanted to go back to her dream where she was the cook of a five star restaurant and everyone absolutely loved her cooking. She was about to go back to that world, but as she glanced around the room, she noticed this wasn't her room. This realization made her awaken immediately, and she became as alert as she could be. She tried to remember the events of when she was last awake.

She remembered finding Rukia and wanting to fight for her, but she must have lost the fight and gotten knocked out. She needed to find out what happened. She looked around the room to see that it was completely empty except for her. It looked big enough to house multiple sick people. She spotted the door and made her way over to it. She peeked her head outside to see a hallway, recognizing the interior to be the shop of Kisuke Urahara's shop. Orihime roamed through the hallway to see Ichigo and all of the Urahara residents, along with a black cat on Kisuke's lap, seated around a table in the living room.

"Oh, Orihime! Glad to see your awake!" Kisuke said waving. Orihime awkwardly waved back with a smile.

"Where's Rukia? Orihime asked. Kisuke grinned and looked to Ichigo.

"Would you mind telling the young lady what happened after she passed out?" Kisuke asked innocently. Ichigo shrugged at the guy's laziness and motioned for Orihime to take a seat beside him.

Ichigo told Orihime all of the events that transpired while she was passed out. He explained everything that happened, including saving her, then getting ready to fight Byakuya, only to stopped by Rukia herself. What Ichigo didn't go into detail about was his strange conversation with her before she parted. He didn't think it was important anyway. When Ichigo finally got around to actually telling her that Rukia went through the Senkaimon, Orihime's eyes began to water. She thought to herself, " _Oh no, what are they gonna do to her? It's all my fault that she's in this mess. I have to get her out!"_

Orihime looked to Kisuke with a serious expression and asked, "Do you know of a way to get me to the Soul Society?" Kisuke grinned at her warmly.

"Why would you do that? You aren't thinking about saving her are you?" Kisuke asked already knowing the answer. Orihime's resolve didn't waver.

"Of course I will! It's my fault that she's stuck in the situation she's in. I have to save her!" Orihime pleaded. Kisuke nodded at her enthusiasm. The black cat that introduced itself to Ichigo an hour or so before hand decided to speak up.

"In order to pull something like that off," The cat began. Orihime was looking around the room for the speaker the entire time the cat was talking. "We'd need more manpower. Not to mention that at your current level, you wouldn't be able to do much once you got there." The cat finished. Orihime, having still not found the source of the voice, was looking curiously under the table. The cat jumped from its seat on Kisuke and unto the table that Orihime was looking under.

Orihime quit her search from underneath the table, and was greeted by a black cat. To Orihime's complete dismay, the cat spoke, "Sorry, I didn't introduce myself, my name is Yoruichi." Orihime blinked a couple of times out of shock. She grabbed Ichigo's sleeve to get his attention.

"Ichigo, did that cat just talk?" She asked with curiosity. Ichigo looked to her and nodded his head. Orihime gave a knowing nod back to say that she understood, and turned to face the cat with her eyes closed. She sat there for a while trying to process the fact that a cat was talking.

Yoruichi was waiting for what seemed like a few minutes for Orihime to get her bearings " _At least she didn't scream when she saw me talk."_ Yoruichi thought. Then, Orihime shot her eyes open and pointed to the cat with a look of disbelief on her face, and screamed, "Oh my gosh it's a talking cat!"

" _That was such a delayed reaction."_ The entire room thought and sweat dropped. Once Orihime was fully comfortable with Yoruichi, they were free to resume the conversation.

The gang agreed that Ichigo and Kisuke would oversee Orihime's training, and Yoruichi would be tasked with training Uryuu.

 **Las Noches Interior, July 21st**

Nnoitra was walking through the sunny desert of inside Las Noches. His fraccion, Tesra, was following close behind him. Nnoitra, as well as all the other Espada, knew that it was only a matter of time before Aizen had the Hogyoku and came to base. Some were pleased, others like Nnoitra weren't, after all he hated to take orders, even from someone as powerful as Aizen.

As the pair were walking, they both spotted a lone figure off in the distance. Whoever it was, it was suppressing its energy. Nnoitra seemed to be minimally intrigued, while Tesra readied himself to protect his master. Tesra's reasoning for being so cautious was that his master wasn't popular, and he should be able to tell whoever it was, if they were supposed to be in Las Noches. " _If it was an intruder, then Nnoitra could probably beat it, but I want to prove my worth."_ He reasoned.

As they approached the lone figure, more and more of it's features became available. The first noticed the dark green cloak the figure sported in the distance. Then they noticed that it had a hollow mask, the mask was the most decorated either one of them had ever seen; it looked silver, not bone. The picture on the mask seemed to be the skull of a horse, as they got closer. The last things they noticed were the green hair, and ample bosom of the Hollow.

Nnoitra was the first to speak, "Hey bitch, are you lost?" He asked aggressively. The figure was unmoving and refused to speak. Nnoitra was not one to be ignored, especially by a women.

"Answer me slut or I'll just kill you." He said. The figure stepped one foot closer, and abruptly stopped. Then took three steps closer, and stopped just as suddenly. She was now about 10 feet away from Nnoitra. From behind him, Nnoitra heard his lone fraccion call from behind him.

"Please allow me to dispose of the intruder." He pleaded. Nnoitra scoffed and gave him a disinterested wave of his hand, which Tesra took as a "do what you will," sign. Tesra unsheathed his sword and rush the figure.

Tesra, who was closing in on the figure, was determined to make quick work of his opponent. He wanted praise from Nnoitra, after all. As soon as he got close enough to strike however, the figure unleashed all of its Spiritual Energy it had been concealing. The wave of pure energy was so powerful, it suspended Tesra in mid air. The energy that it was emitting was light green and purple, and was enough to make Nnoitra put his arms up in defence to stop the wind and any debris that might be blown his way.

The figure backhanded the suspended Tesra and knocked him into a building, several hundred feet away. Nnoitra's eyes narrowed in anger, at seeing this. Not that he cared about Tesra's well-being, he just didn't like a strong she must have been to do that.

" _I'm gonna kill this bitch. Who does she think she is? Busting in here of all places and starting a fight with an Espada? I'll show her how stupid she was."_ He declared in his head. He drew his large weapon of choice. He was about to Sonido behind her and gut her when she spoke to him.

"Been awhile huh, Nnoitra?" The female melody proclaimed. Nnoitra couldn't believe his ears. To him, that sounded exactly like Nelliel!

" _That's Impossible, she was a child, a shell of her former self when I got done with her."_ Nnoitra was too preoccupied with his thoughts to notice her gigantic lance pierce, and nearly sever, his right arm. "Agh! Damn, bitch!" He cried out in anger and pain. The figured walked over to him, agonizingly slowly. When she was within a 5 foot radius of him he asked, "Are you really Nelliel?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"Yeah, it's me." She said calmly. Nnoitra couldn't believe it though, he thought it to be too ridiculous to be true. He tried getting up but was pinned further by her lance when he attempted to get up. This earned a cry of pain from the Espada. Nelliel, having had enough, removed her lance from his arm. She looked down on him for a moment or two before turning, and walking toward the main meeting room.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?" Nnoitra cried out from behind her.

She didn't bother to stop walking, she merely kept moving and said without looking, "I'm going to tell everyone of my return."

"Oh so you're the same coward you were when I beat you last time? Typical of you to let me live, since you don't have the spine to kill me!"

Nelliel pondered this for a second. She wanted to put this in a way that he could understand, so she took her time thinking of an explanation.

"Nnoitra, remember that speech I gave you about your animal instincts compared to my philosophy on life?" She asked.

"Of course I remember that nonsense!" He retorted.

"Well I'd like to give you an update on my view of you." Nelliel said. Nnoitra however wasn't having any of it. He rolled over to the left and used his working arm to lift himself up. He grabbed his scythe-like blade with his left arm and was about to release it, but the sharp and familiar pain of being ran through the arm stopped him from releasing. He looked to his left and saw the gruesome sight of Nelliel's lance firmly lodged in his shoulder.

"I'm talking now, Nnoitra, be a good boy and listen." She said in her usual sweet voice. Meanwhile Nnoitra was in the groveling from the pain in his left shoulder. "Back then, I told myself a lot of things. I told myself that I wouldn't kill you because I saw good in you, I told myself that killing you would be wrong, and I was too good to kill you. I told myself that 'if I could just hold on and put up with it a little longer, he'll come around.' I told myself that 'if I just send enough reason his way, he'll have to realize he's at fault.' The truth though, was that I was just too weak. It's not that I _wouldn't_ kill you. I _couldn't._ I couldn't bring myself to. So I created a convenient excuse that made me seem like I was dignified. In all actuality, my weakness is what gave you the opportunity to hurt my friends."

She slammed her foot into the back of Nnoitra's head, which earned her a grunt of pain and annoyance from him.

"However something snapped in me that day. Something broke, something that was holding me back. Something that ended up giving you all the room you needed to hurt my fraccion and me."

She dug her heel into Nnoitra's ear and grounded it into a bloody mush, all the while hearing Nnoitra scream and yell in agony.

"Do you know what that something is? Weakness. My weakness died, and it was replaced by a resolve to protect the things I hold dear to me. The old me would call that "instinctive" or "barbaric," but the current me doesn't give a damn what anyone calls it. My resolve to protect my loved ones and kill all those who threaten it, _can_ be instinctive. Who cares?"

She rose her blade and prepared to slam it into the core of her foe.

"So I gotta thank you, Nnoitra. You made me strong enough to return and claim what's mine again." She said as she pierced the iron skin of her adversary.

She started walking away, and once she got a few meters away, she turned around and blew a kiss to the disintegrated figure of Nnoitra.


End file.
